declaring variables in flex

Question

I found this in an ActionScript class in flex.

protected::valueMin

Please let me know what this exactly means. at the outset, I dont see any type declaration. I am a newbie in flex.

Answer 1

As spash said, this syntax is used for namespaces. In this case it is actually used to workaround a compiler issue. The thing is that you can't declare an accessor in which the getter has a different scope as the setter. It is to say, you can declare it, but accessing the accessor via it's name will result in a compile error.

Consider the following:

private var _name:String;

[Bindable(event="nameChange")]
public function get name():String {
  return _name;
}

private function set name(value:String):void {
  if (value !== _name) {
    _name = value;
    dispatchEvent(new Event("nameChange"));
  }
}

If you now try to access the "name" property to get or set it, this will result in a compile error:

name = "John Doe";

However, if you specify the scope the code will compile.

private::name = "John Doe";